Coding

React has on my to-learn list for what seems like ages. I’ve tried diving in numerous times over the last few years, but either the time wasn’t right or I couldn’t find the right course or project to work through. Some courses were too hands-on, while others were too hands-off and quickly led to frustration.

So I just sat with my skill set and waited to find the motivation to jump back in.

However, with work projects on the horizon that will most likely be built using React, I decided it was high time to jump on the framework bandwagon.

Now, you all know I’m obsessed with free online courses. 🏫 Sites like Udacity, edX, and Coursera make learning new skills accessible to anyone with an internet connection.

I always hit up these sites first when I want to learn something. As a novice, I do my best learning when I’m following a solid, foundational plan. Otherwise, I’m likely to:

Become engulfed in a maze of documentation trying to figure out how to prep my development environment for said new technology

Experience full-on analysis paralysis when deciding on what to build

So when I finally landed on this course, I knew I had to spread the good news. 🎈 I haven’t completed the course yet, but the instructor is awesome and the project you’ll be working through is a great example of how you might use React in the “real world.” 🌎

But is it free?

I also want to clarify something about Coursera courses. While you can pay for certificates of completion, you can take any of their courses for free by auditing them.

The Audit option can be easy to miss. If you click on the ‘Enroll’ button for a class, a window pops up that prompts you to start a free trial. Ignore that gigantic call-to-action, and click the ‘Audit the course’ link at the bottom instead.

Course Projects

The course is based around building a single page React app for a restaurant called Ristorante con Fusion. Your app will feature restaurant information, an interactive menu that displays details and customer comments for the user-selected dish, and a form (with validation) that enables users to submit their comments.

A lot of times, getting set up is one of the hardest parts of the development process. Where this course really shines is in its ability to simplify the process of setting up your development environment. You’ll get a handle on everything from setting up Node.js and NPM to using Yarn Package Manager to install dependencies.

Muppala also shows you how to install the Reactstrap component library, which you’ll be using to flesh out your app components. Because you’re using Bootstrap 4, you can really focus in on learning the React without having to take the time to mess with CSS and general beautification of your app. (CSS is my jam 💖, but my brain can only handle one thing at a time!)

Course Improvements

I think a lot of courses leave a lot to be desired in terms of teaching web developers to comply with accessibility guidelines. This is one of them.

I’m currently building out the interactive menu as instructed, and it lacks many accessibility considerations. For starters, the clickable dish cards aren’t accessible to keyboard users. Also, aria-live attributes are lacking so screen reader users aren’t alerted when dish information and comments are printed to the screen.

So if you’re looking for the holy grail of courses that incorporates all the best practices (wait — do those exist?), this seems to be lacking some essential info about making your app a11y-friendly.

However, if you’re looking for a deep dive on React and are willing to learn how to incorporate accessibility into your app on your own time, give the course a shot!

You’re wondering if you’re smart enough — talented enough — to make this career change into web development. You try hard for a week and then your motivation finally takes a nosedive when you can’t get your code to work.

You can’t wait until you’re confident in your skills and feel equipped to tackle any problem.

Let me tell you something.

It will never feel like that.

Part of the job is learning to be OK with feeling ill-equipped, underprepared, and like you’re just barely scraping by. It’s called impostor syndrome, and we all have it.

In this field, there’s so much to remember and things are amorphous and ever-changing, and The Right Way™ is up to interpretation.

You’ll grow the most when you’re wedged in that uncomfortable spot where ‘what you know’ juts right up against ‘what you don’t know.’

So don’t stick with what’s comfortable.

Don’t avoid a certain popular technology because, in your opinion, it’s a nightmare to work with.

That probably means you haven’t worked with it enough. You haven’t gotten to know it well enough to appreciate its quirks, nuances, and special powers.

(Hey you!Yeah you! I know you want to just give up on understanding CSS! And that vanilla Javascript scares the bejeezus out of you. Keep on trying.)

Never stop learning, and you’ll never stop exceeding your own self-imposed limitations.

Web Development

Software developer Adam Wathan walks us through several ways of approaching CSS, pushing for a more functional, “Don’t Repeat Yourself” (DRY) approach. This article will blow your mind and get you inspired to start cleaning up your CSS.

“There are bigger and better things for you to be learning and working on than tweaking the padding on your (Free Code Camp) tribute page.” Um…can relate. This is a good reminder for anyone who’s experiencing portfolio-project-tunnel-vision.

Hey all! I know it’s been a long time since I’ve updated. The last few months have been a whirlwind of trying to balance a challenging day job with a long commute, cramming tutorials during the evening, and working on achieving the ever-elusive work-life balance everyone’s always talking about.

So here’s an update on some things I’ve learned along the way.

Working for a small company is a great way to learn ALL THE THINGS.

I started my front end web developer job October 15, thinking I would be doing primarily design and working with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

Um, reality check! As the main web developer in a small company, I’ve had to:

Dive headfirst into reading and writing PHP and mySQL to try and achieve better site functionality on the Brilliant Directories platform — *cough cough* a platform with very, very little documentation and a business model that tries to leave you so in the dark about their code that you’ll hire one of their own developers to get the job done

Grapple with UI mockups in Balsamiq and Photoshop, and iterate many, many times through proposed site designs

Have a chance to rebuild one of the FreeCodeCamp projects (bigger and better, and with multiple APIs) for my company’s upcoming site launch

Really put my problem-solving skills to use in coming up with general solutions and troubleshooting

And overall, be the expert — or even the person who knows just enough to know where to look

For a web developer, working for a small company can be an awesome way to start on your career path.

The last month been amazing. I started a new part-time marketing and (donor) development position with a tech-related, local nonprofit.

Apart from leaving me more time to spend with my family and pursuing hobbies, I’m finally able to apply the many skills I’ve learned over the last year of selling on Amazon, doing marketing for friends and family, and just plain geeking out on content creation.

I’m excited to go to into the office once my short work week rolls around. There’s also a lot of creative freedom and autonomy — things I’m starting to view as non-negotiables in my winding path toward reinventing my relationship with work.

Now on to the links. Here are some articles that have really resonated with me recently. Enjoy!

Technology

“The researchers devised a way to neutralize this amplification phenomenon—effectively forcing learning software to reflect its training data. But it requires a researcher to be looking for bias in the first place, and to specify what he or she wants to correct. And the corrected software still reflects the gender biases baked into the original data.”

“For years, the Federal Communications Commission has endeavored to upgrade the sort of short text-based messages — often accompanied by a loud alarm — that authorities have used since 2012 to warn Americans about rising floods, abducted children and violent criminals at large. But efforts to bring those alerts into the digital age — requiring, for example, that they include multimedia and foreign-language support — have been met with skepticism or opposition from the likes of AT&T, Sprint, Verizon and T-Mobile, and even some device makers, too.”

Amazon Associates Disclosure

Lupe Camacho is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

Patched together with and plenty of

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